Field of the Invention
The present device relates to a sliding roof device for a vehicle, such as an automobile.
In a vehicle having a roof and an opening disposed in the roof, a sliding roof device is constructed such that the rear portion of a sliding roof is moved up or down and is then slid to above or below the roof through a variety of guides thereby to position the sliding roof in an open position to expose the roof opening. However, in the fully open state the sliding roof may chatter due to the clearances between the various members which is caused by wind resistance when the automobile is running or in motion.
The present device has been conceived so as to eliminate the aforementioned disadvantage and has an object to prevent the sliding roof device from chattering when its sliding roof is fully open.
The Assignee of the present invention has already filed Japanese Patent Application Nos. 57-115271 Publication No. 59-6126 and 57-115275, Publication No. 59-6129 which disclose external slide type sliding roof devices for moving a sliding roof to above a roof line by tilting up the rear portion of the sliding roof and by subsequently changing the angle of inclination. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a stronger structure especially for an external slide type sliding roof device in its fully open state thereby to prevent or reduce chattering of the device in the fully open state.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, according to the present invention, there is provided a sliding roof device for a vehicle, such as an automobile, which includes a sliding roof enabled to close a roof opening, frame side guide rails arranged on a roof frame and moving members attached to slide stays depending from the lower face of the sliding roof and made movable back and forth along the frame side guide rails. In this manner, after the rear portion of the sliding roof is upwardly tilted the sliding roof is moved to the roof back position while having its angle of inclination varied. An elastic member is adapted to be compressed by the sliding roof, when the roof is fully opened, to push and bias the sliding roof upward.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.